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Having a self-hosted website should be every blogger’s end goal, but with that said is it worth it for you? In today’s post, I want to compare and see if a self-hosted website is worth the hype or upgrading to a plan in WordPress is a better option so if you’re interested, keep reading!

WHICH ONES?

When it comes to a self hosted website, obviously I’ve picked WordPress, the hosting service I’ve chosen is Siteground with the GrowBig plan. There are other hosting services available but if I had to go self-hosted, this is the hosting service and plan I’d choose, it fits my blog perfectly.

This plan is perfect for those who get more than 25k views per month and you can host multiple websites in one account, plus you have 20GB web space. There are additional features as well such as premium backup and free website migration.

When it comes to the WordPress.com plan, I’ve picked the Premium plan which is the one I’m currently using. This plan is recommended for entrepreneurs and freelancers but in my opinion, it’s really good for websites that get a lot of traffic as well. You will get a free custom domain name, access to premium themes, 13GB storage space, advanced customisation as well as the option to monetise your blog.

THEMES

If you have a self-hosted website, there are a ton of themes available from the most basic to the most sophisticated ones! There are designers who offer custom themes as well which allows you to customise your blog design up to your preferences.

In addition, there are free themes available so you don’t need to spend money on purchasing a theme plus there are very affordable themes available on Etsy as well which are as cheap as £0.99 so you won’t break your bank account.

If you use the Premium plan on WordPress.com, the paid themes are now available for free. If you compare it to a self-hosted website, you don’t have a lot of options and there are a lot of restrictions when it comes to customisation but you can still have a professional looking website.

CUSTOMISATION

One of the things a self-hosted website is known for is its customisation, it’s very advanced in terms of page layouts, widgets, fonts and other features. On the other hand with WordPress.com, you don’t have that many features.

For instance, you can change fonts on your website but only with the fonts provided by WordPress whereas with a self-hosted website, you can pick any fonts you want. These are only little details but if the appearance of your website matters to you then this is something you have to take into consideration.

ADS

There are so many ad programs for a self-hosted website whereas for the Premium plan on WordPress, you only have one option which is WordAds and compared to the other programs available – the rate isn’t the best but you can still earn a couple of bucks here and there if you get traffic on your blog.

PLUGINS

Both these platforms allow you to install plugins on your website but with WordPress.com, you need to upgrade to a Business plan. Plugins are really great for multiple reasons but I don’t think they are a must-have for every website, it mostly depends on your website.

COST

We’ve reached the most exciting part which is the cost! Sometimes, there are amazing offers available depending on the time of the year you decide to go self-hosted. When I’m writing this blog post (September 2018), Siteground are having a 70% sale which means the cost is £4.49 per month instead of £14.95. On top of this cost, you have other expenses such as your domain registration (for your domain name) and a site scanner (optional) plus VAT at 20%.

Hosting service: £53.88 | normal price: £179.40

Domain Registration: £14.95

Site Scanner: £15.60

VAT at 20%: £16.89

Total = £101.32 | normal price: £226.84

Note that if you don’t include the site scanner service, the cost is reduced to £82.60 on sale and £208.12 as a normal price .

When you’re purchasing your plan, you’ve the option to set a period from a year up to three years, the special price will only be applied for the first invoice afterwards it will return to the normal price.

On the other hand for the premium plan on WordPress.com, you only pay £7 per month which is £84 per year which is a lot more affordable compared to a self-hosted website. If you’re interested about the personal plan, it’s £36 per year.

MY OPINION

Having a self-hosted website is definitely worth it if you’re thinking about turning your blog into a business but it’s very expensive. Certain programs and brand require you to have a self-hosted website if you want to work with them but I know a lot of full-time bloggers who use Blogger and WordPress.com platforms.

It can be very tempting to go self-hosted when there is a huge sale but after the first invoice, you’ll have to pay the regular price which can be very expensive. If you’re earning a bit of money from your blog and you’re receiving a lot of paid opportunities which will eventually turn your blog into a business then I’d say to go for it. I’d recommend to buy the plan for a period of 3 years if you have the money to afford it which saves you a lot of money in the long run!

However if you are a new blogger or if you’re blogging as a hobby, going self-hosted might not be the wisest decision. If you have the money to afford it, it’s fine but if you don’t then it can be a tricky situation. So many blogs are deleted after a year for this reason because a lot of things can happen during that time frame, you might not have time to blog or you might not be interested in blogging.

Another thing people don’t mention is that your traffic will go down when you transfer your website from WordPress.com to WordPress.org (if you already have an existing website on WordPress.com). If your traffic isn’t organic and based on the WordPress reader then it will have a massive impact on your engagement, it can take more than a year to bring back the traffic you used to get. If your traffic is organic in terms of social media and search engines then you won’t really see a huge difference.

If you already have a blog on WordPress.com but you want to turn it a bit more professional then both the Personal and Premium plans are really good. You can work and improve your blog content, photography and traffic then go self-hosted afterwards which will allow you to save money and be established as a blogger first before taking the big plunge.

I switched to self-hosted, I haven’t received any major benefit from it yet other than the fact that site name looks cleaner and you can have ads. I got it on sale for 2 years, will have to reconsider what’s the status after that. It was a really nice and detailed post. xx
Love,
The Beauty Wonkhttp://thebeautywonk.com/

This is a great post, this is something that I have thought about, I’m currently on the premium plan, I’m looking into monetization. Self-hosting is something I had thought about because I would like to use some plugins but after reading your post, I think I’ll stick with wordpress.com for now.

Great post! Wish I’d read it a month ago. I just went self-hosted. Not really feeling any benefits yet, but definitely feeling some downside. I had never read anywhere that your viewership could go down when changing over to dot org, but it definitely has – by like half! Ouch! I’d JUST started being approached by desirable brands for collaborations, hope I haven’t lost that.

I have a question for you. I purchased my domain through on wordpress but now I purchased my hosting from siteground. After I transfer to siteground. Do you think wordpress reader still be able to see my posts? As I can see yours? Did you transfer to a selfhosting website by yourself or took help? I will really appreciate your help please

If your readers are following your blog, WordPress Reader will show your blog posts to them but your blog posts won’t appear under the tags in the WordPress Reader and the same goes for people who aren’t following your blog through WordPress. I didn’t go self-hosted yet, my blog is still under WordPress.com so I don’t know if I’m going to transfer my website by myself or ask for help x

So are you able to monetize your blog with just under wordpress as I have a few sponsors contacted me and I was wondering if I need self hosting or not. Can you use affiliating links on wordpress as well or sign up for affiliation programs. It’s so hard to understand this. Hahaha sorry to bother you

Haha no problem! Yes you can monetise your blog with WordPress.com, you can use affiliate links as well. Make sure to check the affiliate programs, in some cases they require you to have a self-hosted website.

This is a great and very useful post, thanks for sharing your insight! I still feel very new to the blogging game and am learning about the different plans, self-hosting, monetization, etc and what might be best for me. It’s interesting that traffic could actually go down when you first self-host – this is good to know! Thanks again 🙂

My site started as self-hosted at the beginning with an affordable price. As I have a full time job, writing blog is just a hobby. I think it’s worth to spend some on my hobby for eliminate the limit ion of my fun. https://kidultkingdom.com